Monday, August 31, 2009

'What's Inside is Just A Lie': Passing Strange


Above: Stew as The Narrator, left, and Daniel Breaker as Youth in Passing Strange.


Stew and Spike Lee, above.

Passing Strange, the film by Spike Lee of the theatrical performance of the play of the same name by Stew (Mark Stewart) and Heidi Rodewald is an exuberant and spiritual retelling of the eternal struggle to find one’s self in the arts. When I missed its Broadway run, I was disappointed and therefore very happy to learn that Spike Lee had collaborated in remaking it as a film. And if any recent Broadway show deserves a life on film, Passing Strange surely does.

As much as it is a focus on the efforts of Youth, played by Daniel Breaker, with retrospective backup provided by the Narrator (Stew), to recreate himself ---from a young, middle class, African American man from South Central L.A., to a musician living the bohemian life in Europe and in search of The Real-- I found it filled with wonderful, universal truths, hard-learned lessons and reflections. Whether you are young and finding yourself on the first steps on this road, or you are someone who lived through variations on this theme decades ago, you will find yourself inspired and elated by Passing Strange, a visionary, psychedelic and musical journey, by Stew and Heidi Rodewald.

Youth turns his backs on the life in which he found himself in L.A. and works hard at reestablishing himself as “a construct.” (A frequent and funny reference among the Marxist and material culture minded Europeans in the films.) The entire cast is remarkable: Along with Stew and Mr. Breaker, De’Adre Aziza, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Naomi Jones, move back and forth in amazing, dizzying tangents, as they switch from a church group in South Central L.A. to punk rockers and on to young Dutch and German artists and radicals in the 70s. Eisa Davis is transporting as Youth’s Mother.

At one point, the Narrator, who puts himself, as Youth, under the microscope on many occasions, observes how funny it is that our adult lives are often dictated by decisions made by teenagers (that is, ourselves as teenagers). Music, by Stew’s band, Negro Problem, featuring partner Heidi Rodewald is likewise amazing. Spike Lee’s direction seems to make clear that Passing Strange must have been a labor of love for everyone involved, just as, in its joyful and painful moments, it is art that will move you, change you, and stay with you for a long time to come.

The film is now at the IFC Theater in the Village, as well as on HBO On Demand.

Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgiguUKQ4S0

Stew’s site: http://www.negroproblem.com/




Bonus track: The Negro Problem, with a vocal by Colman Domingo, of Passing Strange, perform "Gary's Song" from SpongeBob Squarepants, composed by Stew.
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY3TlrisIBQ
Posted by Blackberry

Roaming & Rambling: Bay Parkway



Above, Rimini Bakery, Bay Parkway

Bay Parkway, beginning at 65th Street, is a great melange of Italian, Chinese and Russian Brooklyn. Chang Wang, the huge Asian supermarket, has a wide array of fresh and packaged foods, largely Asian, plus cooking implements, snacks, etc. Rimini Bakery, pictured above, is a terrific Italian bakery with artfully decorated cakes. Their breads, pastries, and cookies are likewise very fine, and don't forget the summertime gelati.

Torres Pizzeria Restaurant, while not the fanciest place for dining, has marvelous and reasonably priced entrees that make a great takeout destination. And Caeser's Bay Wines and Liquors, across the street, remains a great discount liquor store with a wide selection. Gintaras, Russian international gourmet food, rounds out the ethnic trifecta in the neighborhood, but there are many more multi-ethnic shops, supermarkets and restaurants in the nabe to be discovered. Bay Parkway is a neat way to experience the coming and goings of Brooklyn's many diverse communities in a several block stretch. And there also is the wonderfully named "Shampooche," a dog groomer on 65th street. We are amused. Remember: Explore Brooklyn.

Current Reading

  • Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War- Tony Horwitz
  • A Sultan in Palermo - Tariq Ali
  • Hitch-22: A Memoir - Christopher Hitchens
  • Negropedia- Patrice Evans
  • Dead Funny: Humor in Nazi Germany - Rudolph Herzog
  • Exile on Main Street - Robert Greenfield
  • Among the Truthers - A Journey Among America's Growing Conspiracist Underworld - Jonathan Kay
  • Paradise Lost - John Milton
  • What Is Your Dangerous Idea? Thinking the Unthinkable - John Brockman
  • Notes from the Edge Times - Daniel Pinchbeck
  • Fringe-ology: How I Can't Explain Away the Unexplainable- Steve Volk
  • Un Juif pour l'exemple (translated as A Jew Must Die )- Jacques Cheesex
  • The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
  • Pale King - David Foster Wallce
  • David Bowie: Starman bio - Paul Trynka
  • Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat - Andrez Bergen
  • The Future of Nostalgia -Svetlana Boym
  • Living in the End Times - Slavoj ZIzek
  • FIrst as Tragedy Next as Farce - Slavoj Zizek
  • How to Survive a Robot Uprising - Daniel Wilson
  • Where is My Jet Pack? -Daniel Wilson
  • Day of the Oprichniks - Vladimir Sorokin
  • Ice Trilogy - Vladimir Sorokin
  • First Civilizations
  • Oscar Wilde -Andre Maurois
  • The Beats - Harvey Pekar, et al
  • SDS - Harvey Pekar, et al
  • The Unfinished Animal - Theodore Roszak
  • Friends of Eddy Coyle
  • Brooklands -Emily Barton
  • Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahme-Smith - Entertaining and historical
  • Dictionary of the Khazars - Pavic
  • Sloth-Gilbert Hernandez
  • War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy
  • Charles Addams: An Evilution
  • Life in Ancient Greece
  • Time - Eva Hoffmann
  • Violence - S. Zizek
  • Luba - a graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez
  • Life in Ancient Egypt
  • Great Apes - Will Self - riveting and disturbing
  • Lost Honor of Katherina Blum - Heinrich Boll - could not put it down
  • Yellow Back Radio Brokedown - Ishmael Reed (author deserving of new wide readership)
  • Living in Ancient Mesopotomia
  • Landscape in Concrete - Jakov Lind - surreal
  • 'There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby'-Ludmilla Petrushevskaya - creepy stories - translation feels literarily "thin"
  • Mythologies - William Butler Yeats (re-read again & again)
  • How German Is It ? - Walter Abish
  • The Book of Genesis - illustrated by R. Crumb - visionary
  • "Flags" - an illustrated encyclopedia - wish I could remember all of these. Flag culture
  • Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
  • Ubik - Philip K. Dick
  • Nobody's Fool - Richard Russo
  • Hitler's Empire - Mark Mazower
  • Nazi Culture - various authors
  • Master Plan: Himmler 's Scholars and the Holocaust - Heather Pringle
  • Eichmann in Jerusalem - Hannah Arendt
  • Living in Ancient Rome
  • Traveling with Herodotus -R. Kapuszynsky
  • Oblivion - David Foster Wallace - Some of his greatest work
  • Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace - still wrestling with this great book
  • Netherland - Joseph O'Neill - staggeringly great read
  • Renegade - The Obama Campaign - Richard Wolffe
  • Mount Analogue - Rene Daumal
  • John Brown
  • Anathem - Neal Stephenson - love Stephenson but tough slogging first few chapters
  • 7 Deadly Sins
  • ALEX COX - Alex Cox
  • FIASCO by Thomas Ricks
  • I, Fellini - Charlotte Chandler & Federico Fellini
  • Best of 20th century alternative history fiction
  • Judah P. Benjamin - Eli Evans - Confederacy's Secretary of State & source of the W.C. Field's exclamation
  • Moscow 2042 - Vladimir Voinovich - Pre-1989 curiosity & entertaining sci fi read; love his portrayal of Solzhenitsyn-like character
  • Gomorrah - Roberto Saviano - Mafia without the It-Am sugar coating. Brutal & disturbing
  • The Sack of Rome - Celebrity+Media+Money=Silvio Berlusconi - Alexander Stille
  • Reporting - David Remnick - terrific journalism
  • Fassbinder
  • Indignation - Philip Roth
  • Rome
  • Let's Go Italy! 2008
  • Italian Phrases for Dummies
  • How to Pack
  • Violence - Slavoj Zizek
  • Dali: Painting & Film
  • The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight - Jimmy Breslin
  • The Good Rat - Jimmy Breslin
  • Spook Country - William Gibson
  • A Blue Hand - The Beats in India - Deborah Baker
  • The Metaphysical Club - Louis Menard
  • Coast of Utopia - Tom Stoppard
  • Physics of the Impossible - Dr. Michio Kaku
  • Managing the Unexpected - Weick & Sutcliffe
  • Wait Til The Midnight Hour - Writings on Black Power
  • Yellow Back Radio Brokedown - Ishmael Reed
  • Burning Down the Masters' House - Jayson Blair
  • Howl - Allen Ginsberg
  • Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
  • The Palace Thief - Ethan Canin
  • John Adams - David McCullough
  • The Wooden Sea - Jonathan Carroll
  • American Gangster - Mark Jacobson
  • Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Gawker Guide to Becoming King of All Media
  • Jews and Power - Ruth Wisse
  • Youth Without Youth - Mircea Eliade
  • A Team of Rivals - Doris Goodwin
  • Ghost Hunters -William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death - Deborah Blum
  • Dream -Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy - Stephen Duncombe
  • Love & Theft - Eric Lott
  • Exit Ghost - Philip Roth
  • Studio A - The Bob Dylan Reader

Current Listening

  • Alexi Murdoch Wait
  • Wilco Summer Teeth
  • Wilco The Album
  • Carmina Burana - Ray Manzarek (& Michael Riesmann)
  • Polyrock - Polyrock
  • 96 Tears - Garland Jeffries
  • Ghost of a Chance Garland Jeffries
  • Yellow Magic Orchestra
  • Mustang Sally Buddy Guy
  • John Lee Hooker
  • Black and White Years
  • Together Through Life - B. Dylan
  • 100 Days 100 Nites - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
  • DYLAN: 3 disc Greatest...
  • Glassworks - Philip Glass
  • Wild Palms - Soundtrack -Ryuichi Sakamoto
  • Dinah Washington - Best of..
  • Commander Cody& His Lost Planet Airmen Live at Armadillo